The leaking of pics last week looks to have prompted Mercedes-Benz to officially unveil its 2012 model CLS, which will make its debut at this year’s Paris Motor Show. The car retains the long hood, frame-less side windows and sweeping roof of the car that was first introduced back in 2004 that is credited with pioneering the four-door coupe market. Although the dimensions are the same, the second generation CLS boasts a more aggressive look than its predecessor.
One of the most noticeable changes is the vehicle's new front end, which features a radiator grill that juts out instead of being integrated into the hood. Alongside this are the newly designed full LED headlights, which are divided into three arrow-shaped layers from top to bottom that cram in a total of 71 LED’s. The upper layer contains an LED indicator, beneath which is an LED sidelight for LED low beam functions and which can also be seen when the high beam is activated. The lowest level of the headlamp houses the main beam and night-view functions.
A new “dropping line” begins above the front wheel-wells and slopes downwards towards the rear, while there are flared wheel arches above the front and rear axles, with a shoulder line accentuating that found on the rear. The side profile is rounded off with wide wrap-around LED taillights.
The flowing lines continue inside with a wrap-around dashboard sweeping from the driver’s door over the instrument panel support and across to the front passenger door. Materials used consist of a mixture of satin and high-gloss finishes used on the metal surfaces, including matte galvanized air vents to compliment the high-gloss trimmed analogue clock. There’s also a new three-spoke sport steering wheel and column-mounted gear selector.
The individual parts of the leather dashboard are hand sewn in a process that takes several hours, after which they are fitted and upholstered with high-quality padding. Prior to this process, the leather is also heated to preshrink it, so that it will retain its shape even after extreme exposure to direct sunlight. Mercedes also offers a choice of interior trims in either high-gloss brown burl walnut or high-gloss black ash. Black piano lacquer or carbon fiber trim elements are also available.
Mercedes-Benz isn’t expected to announce more detailed specs until the Paris Motor Show, which runs from October 2 to 17. Gizmag will be hand to get the details then, so stay tuned.
